~ An Aussie look at Financial markets-Been in the Biz for over 30 years!

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So here is my round up today.

It was all about Medibank Private today which came on with a flourish and a bell ringing ceremony at the ASX. World’s third largest IPO so far this year, behind Alibaba Group Holding ($US25.0bn) and National Commercial Bank ($US6.0bn). All parties seem to be happy with the opening price. Mathias Corman was doing his best Arnie impersonation, new CEO George Savvides was beaming as he gets to spend his new salary, investment banks were counting their spoils with Mum and Dad investors getting a 10% premium as Instos barely made a buck .Not sure where they got the bell from but it was very shiny! With all the fanfare the stocks was of course heavily traded as punters played guess your allocation, big winners from that were pre-registered policy holders as opposed to those who went through their brokers. Anyway as the selling dries up from the stag merchants we may see it grind higher. Although today it looked like the stags got the upper hand after opening at $2.22 and closed around $2.14 which is where all those instos got the stock. Seems the shoe was misplaced. The rest of the market fared less well with a couple of shocker numbers coming out from NRW Holdings Limited (A$0.48, -17.2%) and a rights issue from Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (A$3.71, unch). In the final countdown we gave up over half of yesterday’s gains to finish down 27 points at 5335 at least it was off its bottom of 5296.Volume was abnormally higher and especially concentrated in #MPL# with 580m shares changing hands today. Big winner Computershare Limited (A$11.45, +1.0%).

Asian markets were mixed with Japan up 0.19%% Honkers down 0.12% and Shankers up 0.67%

Stocks and StoriesBuru Energy Limited (A$0.53, +16.5%) I had no idea these had fallen this far. But looks like some short covering and rumours of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (A$2.81, -5.7%) casting an eye over them due to their potential cheap energy attraction.In the end the company received a Pauline Hanson ‘Please Ex[plain” and trotted out the usual we know of no reason for the move and are as in the dark as the rest of you!

OzForex Group hardly a great surprise given the state of the Sydney and Melbourne property market that there is an increase in customers and profits. Average transaction size is $22,300 which is slightly down but number of transactions has increased by 18%.Happy days and the US business is starting to look interesting.

Aristocrat Leisure Limited (A$6.73, +2.0%) took a hit on their Japanese business but the underlying numbers were up 10% which pleased the market as they continue to push into digital online games.

Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (A$3.71, unch) today announced a rights issue of 1:22 at 2.50 to raise $122m and will use the money to pay a special dividend of 14cps paid on 30th December which will be fully franked.

NRW Holdings Limited (A$0.48, -17.2%) Another shocker from a mining services company as they struggle to remain afloat in the sea of red ink swamping the sector. Earnings are going to be significantly lower and very dependent on the Roy Hill rail project. Not happy Jan.

Monadelphous Group Limited (A$9.61, -9.3%) Following yesterday’s AGM the stock is slipping fast as it breaks support at $10.00.Unsurprisingly news from the AGM of first half sales revenue around 15 to 20 per cent lower than the near record first half of last financial year.

Chinese iron ore futures have tumbled more than 3 per cent to their lowest on record(well at least since they stared trading), as Beijing’s interest rate cut failed to kick start the market. The most traded May iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 2.5 per cent at 464 yuan ($US76) a tonne in afternoon trade after touching 461 yuan earlier.

Glencore has agreed to form a venture with Peabody Energy to combine two mining operations in New South Wales to cut costs.The deal will merge Glencore’s United mine and Peabody’s Wambo mine in the Hunter Valley region. The coal project is expected to start in mid-2017.

Tomorrows News TodayAmericans will eat 46 million Turkeys on Thanksgiving. Almost all will be factory farm bred for maximum white meat and minimum cost.

No indictment in the US town of Fergustan for the policeman accused of shooting dead an unarmed black teenager .Chaos is reigning in the town as looters riot and rioters loot.

Maybe the free trade agreement will allow us to buy Chinese property. I think not! However Chinese buyers overtook Americans to become the biggest foreign acquirers of Australian real estate in the 12 months through June 2013, government data showed. And the Bank of China wants a slice of the action as it ramps up its business in Australia. It held $672 million of Australian mortgages as of September 30, according to Australian Prudential Regulation Authority data. That’s up 13 per cent from a year earlier, about twice the pace of growth for the Australian home-loan market as a whole.

As Oil ministers from OPEC meet this week in Vienna. Ah Vienna. Russia is bleating that the low oil prices have cost them $100bn!Shame.We may yet see production cuts yet. Suspect the price would bounce pretty quickly as the bears cover. Seems though that Iraq, Iran and Libya wouldn’t have to reduce supplies should the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agree to cut output at its gathering in Vienna, according to reports.

Almost feel sorry for Jean-Claude Juncker as he is being attacked in Euro Disney over his past success as PM of Luxembourg in attracting the tax scammers. Only in the job as President of Zombieland for five minutes and already on the ropes.Not an auspicious start! The details of Luxembourg’s record as a centre for tax avoidance came in leaks of more than 28,000 documents that revealed how the authorities, headed by Juncker, reached agreements with more than 300 global companies allowing them to minimise their liabilities.

And in exciting news Delta Goodrem has rejoined Neighbours. If that doesn’t help the company get taken over nothing will.